We must have a Magna Carta for our police

TOMORROW night police officers all over the country, in every village, town and city, will be on the frontline on what is likely to be their busiest night of the year. People will be looking to them to act in their community’s best interests and expecting them to administer the law without fear or favour.

Keeping the peace, acting in times of crisis and, as we tragically saw in Manchester this year, putting their lives at risk are part and parcel of their jobs. Yet recent events have shaken the public’s confidence in the great British bobby. Crime may be low but confidence in the police service appears just as low and their morale is even lower.

When questioned, almost half of police officers say they would prefer to work in another job, while more than 90 per cent feel that they lack Government support.

What appears to have happened to ­Andrew Mitchell could well have been a Christmas special script. The chief whip had to resign following a 60-second ­“incident” in, of all places, Downing Street. Take a police officer apparently masquerading as a member of the public, a confidential log book finding its way into the public domain, add the results of the Hillsborough Inquiry, which have ­resulted in thousands of serving and former police officers being investigated, and the fact that 26 out of the 43 police forces do not have a permanent chief constable, and you have a dangerous cocktail.

This is a defining moment for policing. cool heads, clear thoughts and strong leadership are required.

Home Secretary Theresa May’s reform programme is the most profound of its kind since the creation of the modern police force by Sir Robert Peel. However some of the causes of disquiet are not the result of change but of the way change has been handled. One of the first rules of management is to ensure that during a period of radical change you carry your workforce with you. Unfortunately this has not happened.

There used to be an all-party consensus about the structures of policing but this has broken down. Unless we restore this consensus we are in danger of reflex reorganisation every time there is a change of government. I strongly support Mrs May’s desire to reform some of the existing policing structures – something that with hindsight we must acknowledge Labour failed to do.

Some of these structures were outdated and some were created without proper benchmarks but the current changes have been too rapid and too far reaching. Out go the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA), an independent Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency (CEOP) and funding for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

In come the National Crime Agency (NCA), the College of Policing, a new police IT company (as yet unnamed) and 43 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). One billion pounds of public money is now trying to find its way from one organisation to another while some of our best officers are having to attend interviews for new jobs.

With these profound changes taking place the last thing you should do is start to alter the pay and conditions of those who will implement the reforms without entering into a proper dialogue with them. The Government was wrong to change police pension arrangements retro­spectively. It was unfair and forced out a number of experienced officers.

This is a defining moment for policing. cool heads, clear thoughts and strong leadership are required

On January 14, 2013 the Home Affairs Select Committee will commence the third part of investigations into policing in the new landscape. Entitled Leadership and Standards in Policing it aims to be an inquiry into issues of training, accountability and integrity and into the effectiveness of the processes for dealing with internal corruption and malpractice.

AT THIS defining moment it is vital the Prime Minister opens a constructive dialogue with the police service. David Cameron needs to bring together all the leaders of the police services and the Police Federation for a proper ­discussion. Not so much beer and sandwiches at No10 but possibly more non-­alcoholic mulled wine at Chequers. And we need to do this every year.

So let’s make a start. Policing has changed radically since Dixon Of Dock Green. The present role of an individual officer is unrecognisable in comparison with what it was even a few years ago. The big questions now are what do we want from our police service and how much are we prepared to pay for it?

We need a Royal Commission that sets out a new Magna Carta for policing in this century.

As we remember the glory of the Olympics and Jubilee celebrations we would do well to recall the success of the police in ensuring the security of all concerned in those events. London was safe largely because of the police all over Britain and especially of the inner-city forces. This was the bobby at her and his best, just as we will see tomorrow night in every town and city in Britain.